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Snow & Ice Removal Guidelines

Facilities & Services (F&S) is responsible for providing snow removal for 23 miles of roadway, 147 parking lots with more than ​16,000 spaces, ​90 miles of sidewalk, 10 miles of bicycle paths and lanes, and more than 2​00 buildings on 1,400 acres.

In all, it is a team effort of more than ​125 employees at F&S in the Grounds, Transportation, Building Services, and Construction Services departments working long hours to keep the campus open and accessible for students, faculty, and staff.

Snow removal is considered priority work; pavements, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility ramps, building entrances, ADA building entrances and routes of access to these entrances, and lugger platforms must be cleared any time of the day or night. Primary campus streets and drives are the number one priority for our large snow plows; sidewalks and building entrances are first priorities for our Grounds and Building Services departments.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as our crews make every effort to keep our streets, sidewalks, building entrances, and key parking lots clear during and after winter storms.

Snow Parking Priority Lots

The parking facilities identified below are designated priority lots and will be cleared first. They are designed to take in as many parking customers as possible until smaller lots can be cleared. If your assigned lot has not been plowed when reporting to work, please proceed to the priority lots.

Parking Decks – Entrances to the decks will be cleared after the priority lots have been plowed; ramps will be sanded but the top levels will be barricaded until plows are available to clear them. Parking customers may also use the decks when no space is available within the priority lots.

Note:Vehicles parked in priority lots (E14, B4, and F27) with a valid virtual permit for other rental facilities will not be cited for violations during a snow event; however,enforcement will continue for violations such as parking in disabled spaces, yellow zones, or blocking driveways.

Sidewalks/Pathways:
Typically, an initial clearing pass is made of all 80 miles of campus sidewalk by 8:00 a.m. Variable winter weather conditions can significantly impact locations across campus, forming persistent snow/ice in some areas and impeding the ability of the F&S Grounds department to maintain sidewalk and bicycle pathways cleared from edge-to-edge. University Housing and the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics perform some snow removal at campus residence halls and athletic facilities.

Pretreatment:Prior to winter weather events, F&S Grounds and Transportation crews will apply brine to streets, parking lots, and sidewalks to assist with melting snow and ice. This de-icing solution is an economical and effective way to pretreat large areas of campus without harming the landscape.

Extreme Conditions:At any time, winter weather conditions may become so unusual or unexpected that F&S staff, in consultation with campus administration, may briefly order a departure from general snow removal procedures.

Brine application is used on campus as part of winter weather preparations. This pretreatment of de-icing liquid to sidewalks, streets, and parking lots helps facilitate the snow removal process.